Case 1: Los Angeles
by Monochromie
Summary: Taking on a huge, global case wasn't the worst decision for Captain Scarlet to make this year, frankly. However, it could escalate to the top of their 'Worst Decisions Of The Year' list quite quickly. AU. !SUMMARY CHANGE!
1. Your New Case

**Case #1: Los Angeles  
**

**Taking on a huge, global case wasn't the worst decision for Captain Scarlet to make this year, frankly. However, it could escalate to the top of their 'Worst Decisions Of The Year' list quite quickly.**

* * *

**I've been having writer's block for a long while now, so I thought I'd start something new instead of updating. And I didn't know what to call this one-shot-which-might-turn-into-a-multichapter-story story, so I thought I'd also make it in a actual successful series if I finish this.  
**

**Beware of OOC... crappy CSI/FBI/case explanations. I'm not trained for that stuff. I'm making everything up as I go along. It's called improv. :) And beware of geography errors, cause I was pretty shit with geography as well.**

* * *

Natsu Dragneel, one of the best detectives in the NYPD, growled lowly, his charcoal eyes darting around the computer screen as he clicked the mouse several times in a row. He sported pink hair that darted pretty much everywhere, and he was also sporting the official NYPD uniform.

"Dude, stop playing games. You're at work; not a freaking arcade."

Natsu sighed in exasperation as he leant back in his chair and swiveled round.

"What the fuck do you want, Gray? Thanks to you, I was _that _close to beating my high score on my game, then you come out of nowhere and distract me!" Natsu complained, glaring at the other male.

His comrade, Gray Fullbuster, a childhood friend of Natsu's, sighed, and pointed toward the far office, that belonged to the Captain of the department(?), Erza Scarlet.

Natsu's expression dropped into something along the lines of despair.

"Fuck, no. What does she want?" Natsu asked, standing up from his seat and looking at his childhood friend in the eye.

The other male just shrugged. "Dunno. She just told me to grab you and push you in there."

This time, the gamer sighed, and dragged himself toward the Captain's office.

He knocked on the open door, and walked in, dropping himself in the seat opposite to Erza Scarlet.

The Captain, who was a woman with scarlet hair in a high ponytail and a Captain's uniform, nodded in approval, opening one of her drawers and pulling something out of it before placing it on the desk, sliding it over to the cop.

"What?" he asked tiredly, one brow raised. The female only flipped open the first page of the folder she had taken out of her drawer.

"Lucy Heartfilia," she started, pointing at a picture of a girl with blonde hair that reached her shoulders and a small side ponytail. She also had small smile on her face and brown eyes that went along well with both of those attributes. "She was killed mysteriously a couple of years ago. You remember that being all over the news, don't you?"

He just nodded. "What about her?"

Erza nodded. "Right. That's where everything got strange. So many detectives from so many different departments worked on cracking the case so they could get the reward from the Government, but none of them did solve it. Most of the other departments has already had about 5 different people working on the case in the past, and we're only on our third dectective. The Government asked me why, and I only replied with 'because we waiting for the right detective to come along and solve it in the least attempts.'"

The male nodded again, his eyes skimming over the information that was gathered over the past few years.

As far as he could see, she was murdered when she 19, in Los Angeles. From his mind, he knew that that wasn't all that far from New York, which you could say was a good sign.

In the '_Other information_' box, he saw that previous dectectives that worked on the case had put that the building she was living in had an argument going on with someone in her apartment at the time she was murdered, according to her neighbours*.

Apparently there were also no witnesses at the scene.

That confused Natsu even more.

"I don't get it," he said, breaking the silence between him and his Captain.

"What?" she questioned.

"I mean, there's no info about where she was killed, let alone anything to kill her with at the scene. Here, in the '_Objects_' section, it's blank. Every other box is pretty much filled in with info," he explained, his brows furrowed in concentration. "Doesn't that make it look weirder than it already is. Think about it, Erza. If she was shot, the gun would've been left on the floor and wiped from* fingerprints. If she was stabbed, like the gun theory, the bladed weapon that was used would've been left there. Sorcery or killing someone from their insides doesn't exsist. There was blood on the floor and around her body, yes. But was there a weapon? No. Was there witnesses? No. Then she must've been killed in an alleyway, right? No. Because no one saw the person. She was killed in Los Angeles, and as far as I know, Lose Angeles' streets are usually packed with people. Then, if she _did _get killed by someone, wouldn't at least one person see someone run out of the alleyway she was possibly murdered in?"

Erza thought about his explanation. To be honest, he had a point. As far as the information went that she gathered from other Captains from other departments, Natsu's short explanation was quite detailed and pretty much the closest.

She sighed, and nodded. "All right. You'll go to Los Angeles next week and work on the case. Hopefully you're theory will be right. If it isn't, we'll think up another theory and test that one."

The cop stood up from his seat and grabbed the folder before the Captain could grab it and put in back in her drawer.

"I'll take this, Captain, to make sure I'm looking at the right info," he said, strolling out of the office.

* * *

"Natsu, do you _know _how long you were Erza's office? Half an hour!" Gray exclaimed, slamming his beer bottle down onto the surface of the bar.

It was 3 hours after the duo's shift hours had ended, so they both decided to head to the bar to discuss what happened during their shifts.

"What were you doing, having sex with her?" he asked, earning himself a punch to the face.

"You bastard, I did not have sex with Erza! For one, she's too scary to have sex with, and two, if we _did _have sex, you would've heard some sort of moaning or something along those lines - I dunno what sex sounds like!" Natsu threw his own beer bottle at his comrade, the flying object hitting his head.

Gray chuckled and helped himself up from his position on the floor back onto his stool.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he brushed off, before his serious look was plastered on his face. "So, I heard you get to go to LA and investigate that famous case of that Lucy gal."

Natsu shrugged, a small grin on his face. "Yeah. I'm amazing, ain't I? I get to go to fucking LA. And investigate a famous case whilst I'm at it."

The older male - Gray - groaned. "Man, I envy you so flippin' much. You even get to pick up some girls in LA, if you ever can. Damn. I wish I were you."

The pink-haired man laughed. "No way. No you don't, bro. You just don't envy me. I'm legendary, you're just... weird."

Gray abruptly stood up, his stool clattering to the floor, silence falling upon them in the bar.

"You wanna go, bastard?" he threatened, their faces closing together - not enough to make it a kiss though.

The younger man grinned. "You bet," he growled, kneeing Gray in the groins to make the first move.

"All right, that's it! You're going down this time, Dragneel!" Gray yelled, hastily recovering from the attack.

Natsu snapped his neck, and narrowed his eyes, a smirk coming onto his face. "Not on my watch, Fullbuster!"

* * *

A week later, Natsu was raring to go. He was excited to be working on a case that was big and famous. It's literally the first time that this type of thing has ever happened to him.

Gray patted his comrade on the back. "Don't worry. If you fail slash die, I'll take over the case for you and solve it. And I'll take the credit."

He laughed. "Yeah, whatever, I ain't gonna fail, jackass. You know why? 'Cause I'm legendary, bitch."

Erza came over to him and smiled at him. "Good luck. We're counting on you, Natsu. Take as long as you need. Withdraw from the task if it gets too complicated. We'll take it from there."

The cop nodded. "Got it, Erza. No promises I'll come back alive though. You never know. I might get shot or something."

"Well, then. Here I come, Los Angeles!" Natsu yelled into the horizon, the sun starting to come up, signalling the crack of dawn.

* * *

**I dunno if I should continue this. I need to make some mini one-shots to keep you guys alive. Agh.  
**

*** numero uno: '_In the '__Other information_' box, he saw that previous dectectives that worked on the case had put that the building she was living in had an argument going on with someone in her apartment at the time she was murdered, according to her neighbours'. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, I'll change it to something you guys'll prefer.**

*** numero dos: '_the gun would've been left on the floor and wiped from_'. From or of, or even for? **


	2. Arrival, Witness

Natsu arrived in Los Angeles, geared up and all.

"So, Erza said Lucy's apartment was on Strawberry Street, which is just... down... here..." he trailed off, looking at the road signs, coming to a stop at a sign which said '_Strawberry Street_' in mint condition.

He nodded in approval. "Way better than I expected. This is great," he said. "I gotta thank Erza for this."

The cop started strolling down the street, looking at the building numbers for the specific one.

It took him about 5 minutes, but it was worth it. Almost.

He somehow ran into this group of girls and they started fangirling all over him. It wasn't anything new to him, but it sure did freak him out.

He opened the door of the building and walked inside, jabbing his index finger into the up arrow button of the elevator.

The mechanical doors slid open and he stepped inside, impressed by the designs and how everything worked as if the whole thing was new. He glanced at the folder and then the pad in front of him.

_Floor 6; Apartment 689. _

That's what the folder said, therefore, Natsu pressed the number 6 and waited for the doors to close and lift him up. He thanked God there was none of that crappy elevator music. It killed him.

"_You have reached the 6th floor_."

The pink-haired man watched the doors slide open, and there, in front of him, was a long hallway of rooms, where, at the end, it split into two.

"689, huh? Right near the end, I bet," he muttered under his breath, stomping down the carpeted floor as he made his way to the split end.

There were two signs.

_- Apartments 651 - 674 _and _Apartments 675 - 699 -_.

He did a quick calculation and checked with the folder. He nodded in approval and went down the right passage.

"683, 685, 687... 689," he smiled with triumphant and went into a position that resembled something along the lines of Bruce Lee. He kicked the door down, which wasn't part of the plan Erza gave him, and his eyes darted everywhere.

It's like no one ever came in here after whatever incident happened.

He stood up straight and wandered about, looking at the objects around the apartment. Inside her room, he noticed she had lots of painting hung up on her wall, especially ones of famous singers.

"Oh?"

Natsu swiftly turned around, his eyes locking with a short, blue-haired girl who had an orange dress on which also had separate sleeves(what do you call them?!). "Hey," Natsu greeted. "This Lucy Heartfilia's old apartment?" he asked, pointing at the floor.

The girl nodded. "Yes. This was Lu-chan's. May I ask why you're here?"

Natsu explained the whole situation about him coming from New York to investigate on the case of Lucy Heartfilia's death, and also decided to ask some questions about it as well.

"... and there you have it. That's the situation, so can I ask some questions?"

She nodded.

"Apparently, according to my Captain who said she got this from other detectives, Lucy was having an argument with someone... Is that true?" he started off.

Levy - that was her name, Natsu found out - sighed. "Yes. Lu-chan and her fiance, Dan, were in her apartment, and suddenly I heard shouting from across the hall. I didn't want to interrupt them, in case something horrible happened. Instead, I slightly opened my door and peeked at them from where I was. After a few minutes of spying on them, I saw Dan walk out of Lu-chan's apartment and then Lu-chan go after him."

Natsu nodded, writing down what Levy said in note form in his notepad. "I see. Did you follow them?"

This time, she shook her head. "No. I only went back inside to text my boyfriend, Gajeel, what I saw, because I knew I could trust him with information like that."

The cop blinked. "Gajeel? As in Gajeel Redfox?"

The blue-haired girl nodded. "Yes. Do you know him?" The cop tried hiding his smile, trying to stay serious, but ended up laughing instead. He explained his on-and-off-friendship with this Gajeel, and Levy contributed by saying that she remembered her boyfriend mentioning the cop once in a while, but not too often.

Boy, was she going to tell Gajeel that she met Natsu.

"All right, thanks for the info, Levy," Natsu nodded, flashing her a quick grin.

* * *

He exited the building and stood there at the front for a minute or two, flicking through the folder.

Her body was never found, but people still suspected her dead.

That majorly confused Natsu. Sure, she hadn't been seen for a couple of years, but maybe she was abroad?

Then, that didn't add up.

The murder was all over the news, in countries all over the world. If she had went abroad, wouldn't someone from the place she went abroad to brought her back to the US?

He looked up, staring at the sky that was starting to go a sunset orange color.

Natsu chuckled to himself and shook his head, closing the folder and placing it back in his bag that he took to LA with him.

"I guess I've been in there for more than I wanted..." he muttered, scratching the back of his head. He sighed and shrugged, walking along the pavement as he exited back into the big city of LA. "Might as well find a nice hotel and call it a night."

* * *

Natsu was up early at the hotel he stayed at, around 5:45am, and he turned on his laptop that he brought as well.

"Lucy Heartfilia... case... NYPD..." He typed into Google, hoping for something good to come up.

He clicked on a few links, reading the paragraphs of so-called information on each site. "So there _was _a weapon at the crime scene," he said, scribbling it down on the paper that Erza had shown in back in New York a week ago in her office.

"And there was Levy McGarden as a witness... Oh, and Gajeel." He scribbled some more information down, before sat upright on his bed and he pulled out his phone.

"I gotta meet up with Gajeel and ask what he knows," he said, putting that as a reminder on his phone.

He stared at the bright screen for a few more minutes, until the electrical device vibrated in his hand and the words '_Incoming Call from Erza Scarlet_' popped onto the screen, causing him to scream and throw his phone across the room.

He panted, suddenly feeling largely scared.

He, however, slowly crawled over to the still vibrating object and picked it up, his using his thumb to press the '_Answer_' button and hold it to his ear.

"H-Hello?" he whispered.

"Natsu?" That was Erza's voice. And she didn't seem too happy.

"H-Hey, Erza... What's up?" he asked

He heard a bit of shuffling and yelling from the other line - but nothing serious, he guessed it was just Gray and someone else having a yelling match.

Finally, he then heard Erza's voice.

"Have you found anything new?" she asked.

Natsu hummed in response, standing up from his spot by the wall and back over to his bed where his resources lay.

"Right, so I've got a witness. Levy McGarden - she was Lucy Heartfilia's - " he stopped abruptly, his phone vibrating in his hand as attempted to talk to his Captain.

"Hold on, another call," he hastily announced, taking his phone away from his ear and pressing the answer button.

"Hello?"

A somewhat familiar voice came into his ears.

"Hey, Salamander. Heard you got put on the Heartfilia murder case."

* * *

**I'm drafting and re-drafting a new story. I dunno. I haven't uploaded in, like, ever. xD Ah, well.**


	3. Elder Brother and Long-Distance Cousin

**Every story I publish SFW onwards will start their chapters like the chapters in SFW. Hopefully there'll be more like that by me, but this one won't be - I'll be continuing with the A/N-then-story or straight-to-story style. I like thinking up summaries for chapters too - it's like they're a series.**

**Anyhoo... enjoy?**

* * *

Natsu froze, his eyes slightly widening at the voice.

"O-Oh... hey..." he wasn't quite sure what else to say. After all, it was quite unexpected.

"That's all you gotta fuckin' say? After all that time Levy wasted on trying to convince me to call your stupid phone? Dude, give me a fucking break."

The cop laughed nervously, half-expecting those kind of retorts. Just not all at once.

He quickly cleared his throat, and remembered the call he put on hold with Erza.

"Oh, crap! I need to finish that call with Erza!" he exclaimed, peeling his phone away from his ear hastily and putting his current call on hold so he can continue Erza's.

"Sorry, Erza, I just got caught up talking with a witness," Natsu hastily apologized, telling his Captain his reason for his prolonged hold on her call.

"It's fine, Natsu. Anyway, as I was saying a few minutes ago, did you find anything new yesterday?"

His face grew serious, and his tone followed suit.

"Yeah. I've got one - maybe two - witnessess. The first one is the witness I met yesterday whilst visiting Lucy's apartment. She said she was Lucy's best friend... and heard them arguing about something that she didn't mention. She also said she saw Lucy's fiance, Dan, walk out of her apartment and Lucy herself follow him."

He heard Erza hum for a moment, before she replied. "I see. Do you know Dan's last name?"

"No," the pink-haired man answered. "But I can always call Levy later and see if she knows his last name?"

There was a slight shuffle from the other end of the line - he guessed she was shaking her head. "No," - he was right - "you shouldn't. Who was the other witness you said, Natsu?"

He blinked in confusion, before he realized he was talking about Levy's boyfriend.

"Oh, right, Gajeel Redfox. Yeah, I haven't spoken to him yet, but I will do soon," he answered, slowly letting go of his phone to press it against his shoulder, his hands shuffling through his papers as he scanned thoroughly within Lucy Heartfilia's folder.

"I see. Do you mind if you give this Gajeel's number? I'd like to speak to him privately," Erza requested, the male hearing what sounded like keyboard keys clacking away.

Natsu stayed silent for a moment, pondering whether he should or shouldn't give his Captain his number.

"Sure thing. I'll text it you, Erza."

The next moment, he heard the line go dead.

* * *

By the time he departed from the hotel, it was around 8, 8:30.

"Hm, I sure did spend a bit more time than I expected..." he muttered, his eyes darting as he dodged various tourists who seemed to be going in and out the hotel.

He pondered as he walked out Los Angeles, taking in the sights around the most populous city in the state of California.

"Where to go... where to go..." he mumbled to himself, until he bumped into someone, knocking himself and the stranger over.

"Hey! Look where you're going!"

He looked up to find himself looking at a man with blonde hair and blue eyes - maybe around the same age he was.

"Apologizes. Won't happen again," he stood up and brushed off the dust, holding his hand out.

He scowled and whacked the cop's hand away, before standing up on his own.

He scowled once more, his blue eyes shining with anger. "It better not. If we fucking meet again, I'll kill you."

Natsu narrowed his eyes. He wondered if he knew Lucy, or maybe it was just an accident that he bumped into him.

"What'cha lookin' at?"

That made him snap out of his thoughts and turn on his heel, heading deeper into the crowded streets.

That left the blond and a black-haired man standing there within the chaos.

"Do you know who he is, Sting?"

"No. Why?"

"I heard he's one of the NYPD's best cops. Even on Captain Scarlet's level."

Sting widened his eyes. "Oh, crap. I freaking verbal assaulted(?) a fucking cop. A fucking _cop_!"

The black-haired man put his hand on Sting's shoulder. "Calm down, Sting. We don't even know which one he is."

Sting sighed, and nodded. "Yeah. True. We can always find out later."

* * *

Natsu furrowed he ate his food, still thinking about his encounter with that blond man.

"Hey, you."

The cop turned around, once again facing the same blond man for the second time that day.

"What your name, sir?" he asked, suddenly all polite, unlike earlier that day when they encountered for the first time.

The pink-haired man looked slightly taken aback, but he didn't let it get to him and answered. "Uh, Natsu Dragneel. I'm a NYPD cop."

Sting also looked taken aback seconds later. _N-Natsu Dragneel? New York's best cop, maybe even topping Captain Erza Scarlet?_

"R-Rogue... he's... _him_."

Natsu blinked, confusion being written all over his face. "Sorry, who?"

Sting turned to look at the cop once more. "A-Are you the one who's been assigned the Lucy Heartfilia case?"

The pink-haired man swallowed his food, nearly choking.

"Y-Yeah, I am. You got information?" he asked, clearing his throat once again.

Sting shook his head. "No... it's not that. Well, it sort of is. You... can say that I'm related to her."

This time, Natsu really did choke. "_Related_?" he hissed, his eyes narrow.

* * *

"Hey, Erza. What did he find out?" Gray peeked into his Captain's office. "Anything new?"

He watched her eyes flicker from him to her small pile of papers in front of her.

Her right hand then lifted from the desk and she beckoned him to come in.

He did just that and sat in the chair opposite her.

"Apparently, Natsu found out that a witness - Levy McGarden - was spying on Miss Heartfilia. Well, not directly. She just seemed to hear them from her apartment - right across the hall - and didn't want to interrupt them."

Gray furrowed his brows. "Weren't there CCTVs? I mean, the 21st century's technology's pretty advanced, Erza."

She nodded. "Exactly. I called up Miss Heartfilia's apartment to request CCTV footage from the 6th floor for that day. I haven't watched it as of yet, as I thought you'd want to see as well."

"All right. Let's see it."

Gray stood up and walked over to the opposite side, standing behind Erza, as she hit play.

Sound was on, so they could hear everything happening in the footage.

"_You gave me Sting's number. I called. I asked him about the drugs. He said he couldn't bring me them. Why? You should know. He must tell everything to you._"

Hold on. _Drugs_?

"_What? No! I don't know! I don't know why! I never knew he couldn't bring you them. It's just - it's just that he doesn't tell me as much!_"

"_Sting is your brother. Siblings tell everything to each other. Right?_"

"_Not always. He never told me about not giving his drugs away. Let alone the fact that he had them. I never knew until a few days ago, I swear._"

"_Is tha_ - ?"

Erza stopped the footage, and Gray took off back to his previous seat.

"Who's Sting?" Gray asked, his voice low.

The Captain shook her head. "I'm not sure. But if he's related to her - siblings - then there must be some sort of information in the records."

The ink-haired male's eyes flickered toward his Captain's. "Me and Alberona already checked. Nothing on Miss Heartfilia's relatives - only her long-distance cousin "Michelle Lobster"." He used air quotation marks, as if he was suspicious about the name. He pulled a stapled document out of thin air and slid it across the desk, the scarlet-haired woman catching it before it fell off the table.

"Michelle Lobster..." she mumbled, lifting the papers up and skimming her eyes over the words.

"This looks interesting. She seems to alive and well, too. Call her up. See what she's been up to lately."

Gray nodded and exited, walking straight back to his desk.

* * *

"Drugs? _Fucking drugs_?!"

Natsu was practically grabbing Sting by the collar, pulling his face towards his. "You bastard, you've been keeping drugs all this time? _And _you're related to Miss Heartfilia?!"

"How the hell could you have not told me sooner?!"

It seemed like the NYPD cop even forgot about their earlier encounter and the fact that if they met again, Sting would kill him. Literally, kill him.

Heck, the blond man even had small tears at the corner of his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I just wanted to protect my younger sister!" he exclaimed. "B-But her fiance somehow got hold of my phone number and suddenly demanded drugs on our first call. I-I don't know what else he demanded, but I'm sure he demanded drugs amongst other things."

Natsu narrowed his eyes, before letting go of the man's collar. "Drugs amongst other things..." he mumbled, pulling out his cell and punching in Erza's personal number.

He waited, his eyes darting everywhere. He listened to the ringing tone, before he heard the sign of picking up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Erza. Found out some other new stuff. Sting. Heartfilia's elder brother. Was demanded 'drugs amongst other things' by her fiance." His eyes flickered toward the male, and he flinched. "Hold on."

He covered the bottom half of his phone with his left hand and he neared his face near Sting's once more. "What's your second name, Sting?"

"E-Eucliffe, sir. Sting Eucliffe."

Natsu stood back up straight and continued his call.

"His full name is Sting Eucliffe. Could you maybe search him through the records? I'll try and get the LAPD to let me search through theirs, as Sting's a resident in the California state."

"I got it. Thanks, Natsu. We'll call you if we find anything on him in our records."

Once again, he heard the phone click, signalling that his Captain had ended the call.

* * *

"Natsu Dragneel, NYPD." He shoved his badge into the LAPD's Captain's face.

"What are the NYPD doing here?" he heard some officers mumble, but didn't let it get to him.

Natsu huffed. "Look, buddy, it's only one of me. Though there's probably about tons of me back in NYC, so, don't bother trying to kill me 'cause I have reinforcements." He then ran his hand throat his pink hair, his eyes darting around. "I need to check your records. Just for a case that had been dumped onto us - me."

The Captain - Minerva Orlando - gave the NYPD cop a smirk. "I really doubt that, Officer. I mean, we have quite a lot of reinforcements too."

Natsu grinned, showing his canines. "Sorry, miss. But I'm in a hurry. I have a mission to do."

He pushed through the cops, making his way to the record room.

"Sting Eucliffe, Sting Eucliffe, Sting fucking Eucliffe," he muttered, his fingers flicking through the stapled documents, his hands slamming drawer after drawer closed as a scowl on his face largened, angered by the fact that he couldn't find anything. _Couldn't find anything_!

"Fuck this," he cursed, scratching the top of his head. "Fuck this. And this case. Dammit, why did Erza have to dump this is on fucking me? Why not Gray or Cana or somebody else?"

It was like him to curse - but not that much, unless he got frustrated, like he was right now.

"My, my. Can't find what you're looking for, Officer so you're going to destroy everything in your sight?"

He recognized that voice, despite only hearing it once or twice.

"Shut up, Captain _Orlando_. I'll find it. No matter what. Sting is going with me back to NYC. No matter what. We're gonna solve this Heartfilia murder case before passing it back to you bastards." He stormed out, pushing through the cops as he made his way back out into the city of Los Angeles.

* * *

"This isn't good. No good at all," he muttered, punching in Gray's number.

"Fullbuster."

"I fucking can't find anything in the fucking LAPD's records. This fucking sucks! Did you find anything?"

"Woah, hey, woah. Don't go all crazy on me right now, Dragneel. I have... all bad news."

He sighed, running another hand through his hair. "Shoot," he breathed into the electrical device.

"Uh, well, let's see. No info on Sting Eucliffe - me and Alberona searched 3 times. How about you?"

Natsu scowled into the phone. "Fucking nothing. I checked every single _fucking _drawer. Even the fucking Captain came in a mocked me! She fucking mocked me!" He tugged at his scarf around his neck. "Giving up will just ruin our fucking reputation, so we can't do that. Any other ideas, Gray?"

"No. But I'll go and ask Erza. Maybe she'll have some."

"Thanks, bro. See ya later."

He hung up and stuffed his hand back into his jean pocket.

* * *

**I carried on typing. Until I saved. If I saved later it would've been a disaster. xD Thank god. Really sorry if I'm rushing this as well. Sorry.  
**


	4. Michelle Lobster

**Sorry for making Sting sound OOC. I didn't really know what to make his job as, so I didn't really name anything. So, yeah. Sting will probably make more appearances - Minerva, too - as Lucy's adoptive brother. Of course, Sting's possible OOC will happen.**

**Actually... everyone's OOC moments will probably happen. I'm not even sure I'm getting stuff right - wasn't paying that much attention in CSI/FBI/whatever you wanna call it class-thing.**

**Btw, chapters will probably be about 2,000 - 2,500 words long - not including A/N. Maybe a double-chappy with 4,000 - 4,500 words occasionally? Maybe the 10th chapter! -laugh-**

* * *

Natsu tapped his foot with impatience, somehow creating some sort of tune to hum to.

Murder cases weren't this hard to crack. Well, maybe harder, but whatever, he didn't care. But this case was so freaking hard.

And so fucking long to crack.

It even weared him out just thinking about it. Damn, he was way into it.

He didn't hear his phone ring as he was too deep into his thoughts about the case.

"Huh? What?" He patted his jeans, before his right hand landed on the electrical device he used to call Gray. He pulled it out and clicked the Answer button.

"Go for Dragneel," he sighed.

"_So, me and Alberona found out earlier that Miss Heartfilia has this long-lost-distance cousin called Michelle Lobster_," Gray's voice said, as if their conversation was continuing from where it left off. "_Natsu? Hello?_"

He blinked, and a slow scowl appeared across his features. "You're sounding like we had a friendly conversation, Gray. Don't make me go all the way back to NYC and kick your ass. Because I have work to do. And I'm pretty sure you do too. Now, what do you want?"

Gray repeated his words, and the cop had it all in his memory in a matter of seconds.

"Michelle Lobster, huh? I'll ask Eucliffe about it. Maybe he knows," he said, earning a murmur of agreement from the other end.

Gray, this time, hung up on him and the pink-haired man slowly slid his phone back into his back pocket where it was originally stored.

* * *

Natsu looked around, trying to see if Sting Eucliffe was still there in the café. He wasn't.

He asked the cashier where he went as she answered.

"Ah, you must the man he wanted to give this message to. You are Natsu Dragneel of the NYPD, correct?" He nodded. "Here you go. He said his name was Sting Eucliffe."

Natsu was handed a folded piece of paper and he opened it, reading the somewhat neat handwriting of Sting Eucliffe.

"_Sorry, Mr. Dragneel. I was starting to get a little impatient, so I left with Rogue - my twin brother. Anyhow, I noticed I never told you anything about Lucy's long-distance cousin, Michelle Lobster. We don't talk about her much, but I know a fair amount of information about her. Visit the following address and show the receptionist your badge. She should be able to let you through. I'll talk to you then, sir._"

The cop just stared. It was as if Sting worked in some sort of office of some sort.

He read the bottom of the paper.

He chuckled at the address and shook his head. He waved to the cashier and she waved back as she watched him exit.

* * *

He later pulled in front of large, about 5-story high building. He could count. Just, not as quick as others, especially Gray - God, that guy could count how many sweets were in a jar without even inspecting it.

No. He was getting off topic. Way off topic.

He entered the building and approached the receptionist with a stern expression.

He pulled his badge out and slid it across the counter, the woman peering at it and nodding, approving his arrival.

"Mr. Eucliffe was expecting your arrival, sir. Please, this way."

The male nodded and followed the receptionist all the way to the fourth floor, her directing him to the very last door on the left. That was Sting's office.

"Ah, Mr. Dragneel. I apologize for making you go all this way here."

The cop shook his head. "No worries, Sting. And please, call me Natsu."

He then remembered, he had to text someone, therefore, he excused himself and stood outside Sting's office.

He didn't want to do this - they were just becoming pretty good mates - but he had to if he wanted to close the Heartfilia murder case once and for all. He unlocked his phone, but instead of going to his keypad, he went to a recording app.

He inhaled a small breath, before entering the room again, hitting the Record button as he sat down.

"Sorry, Sting. Now, where do we start?"

* * *

"...and I'm afraid that is all I know, sir," Sting concluded, a saddened look on his face.

Natsu nodded, pressing the same button he did earlier once more to stop the recording. "I see. Thank you, Sting. Don't worry, none of this will get out." He was lying. The recording would be sent to both Erza and Gray and, depending on who gets to it first, they'll be reporting to the Inspector - Makarov Dreyar.

Natsu stood up to leave, before the two males heard shouting that increased in volume as if the person who shouting came closer through the door.

And they did.

And it was a man.

A man with brown hair.

Who looked suspiciously like the guy Erza and Gray saw on the CCTV.

Except they weren't there to get him to court.

Damn, this was gonna be tough to rule him out.

"No! I don't care if he's in a one-on-one meeting with someone important! I need my drugs by the end of today otherwise I'm practically dead!"

And then, it struck him.

Everything - well, almost everything - added up.

Sting was talking about a guy who said to be Heartfilia's fiance who demanded drugs on their first call.

The guy who just burst through the doors was talking about drugs. And was storming into Sting's office. No, he already mentioned that.

That, if he understood properly, meant that this guy was Heartfilia's fiance and was the guy he should be arresting.

Not for murder, but drugs. But he wasn't sure. Sting, the guy he finally got on good terms with, or the guy who seemed to be Heartfilia's fiance?

Shit, who should he arrest?

"Sorry, who are you?"

And that was the first thing he blurted out.

"More like, who are _you_!" the brown-haired man yelled. "I am Dan Straight, Lu-Lu's fiance!"

So he was right.

"Lucy Heartfilia's fiance? Seems real unlikely, bro," he muttered the last part under his breath - luckily Dan didn't hear.

"That's right! I am Lu-tan's fiance!" He then shifted his attention to the blond man. "Now, where are my drugs, Sting?"

He stood there, behind his desk, pondering whether to give him the drugs that were hidden in his drawer and get arrested by the NYPD or say that he didn't have any and somehow dodge the bullet of being arrested.

He pondered for a few more minutes.

"I don't know, Dan. I'm really sorry."

He had chosen the latter.

Natsu nearly flinched when he watched Dan slam his hands onto the table. Nearly.

"You bastard! You said you'd have them by the end of the week! Which is today!"

The NYPD cop narrowed his eyes. His hand subconsciously went to his belt, where he grabbed a pair of handcuffs and walked over to Dan.

"Dan Straight, I'm arresting you on suspicious of murder and drugs."

Yes - he had insufficent evidence. Yes - he was slightly light-headed. Yes - he wanted to get this over with, like everybody else. No - he didn't know what else to do.

Shit.

"What?! You can't - ! You can't fucking arrest me! Who are you, anyway? Some lousy officer?"

Natsu smirked. "Nah, man. I'm NYPD's best cop. Maybe even on Captain Scarlet's level. I am Natsu Dragneel, currently leading the Heartfilia murder case. Yeah? Now, let's go." He tugged on the metal inbetween Dan's wrists and dragged him out, shoving him into the back of his car once they got out.

* * *

"I'm only gonna be here for a few minutes, so don't expect much. But, I did get this bastard here. Demanding drugs from Sting. Or something. I didn't really think."

Erza whacked him around the head with her hand.

"You idiot! You come back with him with _insufficent _evidence? Do you know what position that puts us in? Thanks to you, we now have 48 hours to actually get enough evidence that he's been dealing drugs or we'll have to let him go, like the law says," Erza deadpanned.

Natsu scowled slightly, though he didn't want to get on her bad side. "Sorry. It's just - it all happened in under a minute; couldn't keep up or anything. Sorry," he apologized again, rubbing his head.

Gray crossed his arms across his chest.

"You have information on Michelle?" he asked, his eyes following the movements of the pink-haired male as he - Natsu - sat down at his desk.

He nodded, pulling his phone out of his back pocket and setting it on the table, sliding it over to the black-haired cop. "Recording app. It's all there. The whole convo between me and Sting. He told me everything he knew about Michelle. I trust that guy."

Gray narrowed his eyes, but nodded anyway, snatching the phone and listening to the recorded conversation himself.

"_Sorry, Sting. Now, where do we start?_"

"_Right, sir. Well, I know Michelle's records say she's a German, but she's Russian. Lucy's mother, before her death, made fake records for her so she could stay in Germany. Michelle didn't even know any German, at all. Therefore, Lucy stayed and taught her German as she also knew Russian as well, meaning that Lucy could communicate with Michelle._"

"_Sorry, could I just stop you right there? How do you know about Michelle in the first place? You and Miss. Heartfilia don't seem to be related that much._"

"_Ah, yes, sir. I apologize. The way me and Lucy are related is quite complicated, therefore will take some amount of time to explain. Do you mind if we circle back to that topic and concentrate on Michelle at the moment?_"

"_Of course. My apologizes. Please, continue_."

"_Thank you. Anyway, because Michelle now knew German, she could communicate with Lucy using her - Lucy's - home language. However, shortly after approval of Michelle's fake records, Lucy's mother had died, which lead to Lucy being cooped up in her room for multiple days, only opening the door to eat or use the bathroom for any purpose. Lucy looked like she was only left with her, Michelle and her father, Jude Heartfilia. And that was when I met Lucy. Jude, Lucy's father, had adopted me for some apparent reason I do not know of still, and made me Lucy's brother. I swore to her that I'd protect her... but I... couldn't..._"

Gray noticed Sting sudden string of silence. He glanced over to Natsu, whose head was buried in his arms as if he was trying to catch up on some sort of sleep he hadn't had. Or was just weeping about some stuff.

"_Is... that so? I'm really sorry, Sting. I just... We can skip that part._"

"_T-Thank you, sir._"

Gray stopped the piece of recording. "Hold on a second..."

He had just realized something.

He spedwalked his way into Erza's office, not even bothering to knock as he just walked straight in. "Erza! That guy - the guy Natsu brought it - he's Miss Heartfilia's fiance! He's the one who's been demanding drugs! I don't know that much about the murder part, but Dan was definitely demanding drugs. Apprently, off Sting Eucliffe."

The woman looked up at him. "Dan Straight? He was the man we saw in the CCTV footage?"

He nodded. "Yeah, no doubt 'bout it. He sounds and looks like him."

She narrowed her eyes. "It possible. But we don't have enough evidence to prove he's been dealing and trading drugs with Sting, right?"

The ink-haired officer slammed his colleague's phone onto his Captain's desk. "This recording. We're off the Dan subject for now, but we'll circle back to it. This recording holds information from Sting Eucliffe about Michelle Lobster. I'm guessing he hasn't gotten that far into the story yet, but feel free to rewind and restart the recording."

Erza hesitantly lifted the object off the table, hitting the button the previous two males pressed.

"_Michelle was... you can say, like a sister to Lucy. But Michelle was also protective of her. Way too protective. Whenever I tried to talk with Lucy, even with Michelle out of the room, she was just come out of nowhere and push me away. Then... after multiple attempts of just talking with my own adoptive sister, Lucy just... ignored me. It was as if I didn't exist. Of course, I knew German as well to communicate with Lucy. But we both also knew French, which angered Michelle to no bounds as she also knew French and understood everything we said, despite her not interferring with us. _

_Then it just got complicated after that._"

Erza stopped the recording.

"Gray," she called, standing up from her desk and walking around it, stepping outside of her office.

"What's up?" he answered, glancing at his Captain as whilst attempting to get his colleague up.

"Have you contacted Michelle?"

He physically froze in his spot. "Oh, crap, no!" he screamed, grabbing the nearest phone - Natsu's phone on his desk - and quickly punched in the number he had memorized of Michelle Lobster's home.

"_Hallo_?"

"Uh..." he stood there, not sure how to reply.

"_Bonjour?_"

She tried a French greeting this time instead of German, he noticed. He didn't understood any, though.

"Uhm..." his throat went dry. What the hell?

"_Hello?_"

He sighed in relief. She could speak English, despite the fact she had a strong Russian accent. Well, that was what he expected after all.

"Hi, this is Gray Fullbuster. Is this Michelle Lobster I'm speaking to?" He couldn't help it - he had to check, you never know.

"_Yes, it is._"

He narrowed his eyes. He didn't know how to reply and looked at his Captain. She just shrugged.

"Good to know. I'd like to discuss the topic of Sting Eucliffe and Lucy Heartfilila with you, please."

* * *

**Asdfghjkl what the fuck is happening. -laugh- I dunno what's going on. School is starting to flood me and everything xD I'll live, don't worry!**

**Review for me, yeah?**


	5. The Capital of the United States

**Special thanks to _3131182_! Thank you for your ****reviews! Hopefully you'll be able to review more for me! Thank you again! **

* * *

"Good to know. I'd like to discuss the topic of Sting Eucliffe and Lucy Heartfilia with you, please."

"_P-Please... do not bring up my so-called cousin. I do not want to hear his name. At all._"

Gray frowned, knowing that he'll have to break the news of not getting anything on Sting from Michelle to Natsu - after all, he - Natsu - had been working on the case for only a few days but it was already practically hell for him and everybody at the NYPD.

"Very well. Shall we talk about your," he cleared his throat, "uh, deceased cousin?"

"_Of course! Lucy was the best to be around!_"

Now, that was the reaction he didn't expect. She sounded... cheerful? Even with her so-called favorite person dead?

He sighed, and walked to the desk next to Natsu's - Alberona's. He sat down in her chair and propped his feet onto the messy desk of hers.

She never really did clear anything up.

Maybe her hair and clothes, but that was really all, to be frank.

"Hm," he hummed. "She was? How about you tell me some things about her?"

"_Of course I will! I absolutely love talking about my dear Lucy!_"

Gray eyed the picture on Alberona's desk, the frame containing a picture of her and a man next to her who looked years older than her.

As if he was her father.

His eyes darkened, remembering the last time he saw his father.

It was around 12 years ago. His father was arrested, but in 5, long years - for him, anyway - he was told that his father had died in prison.

It was torture for him, but decided to try and forget about the two days his life was at its darkest - the day his father was arrested and the day he was told he had died.

Frankly, he didn't know the reason he joined the NYPD, working under Captain Erza Scarlet.

He shook his head, pushing the negative thoughts and memories out of his mind.

He had to get back to the problem at hand.

"Whenever you're ready."

* * *

Natsu groaned, his head slowly lifting off the table before it fell back into his arms again.

He probably fell asleep.

After all, his head felt... heavy?

"Ugh. What time is it?"

Then, he suddenly felt a lightning strike on pain running from his shin and up his leg, causing him to yelp and sit up straight, his knee flying upward toward the bottom of the table. "Shit! Fuck! Ow! What happened?!" he continued yelling out curse words, clutching his knee as he rocked back and forth, hissing whilst he tried to make the pain go away.

"It's about time you got up. Sting has called you about 5 times. I had to answer for you and say that were tired from the flight from LA to here."

He recognized that voice. Of course he did.

His memory jogged, coursing through the voices he had stored.

It was a woman.

A pretty strict woman.

With scarlet hair.

Brown eyes.

Erza.

"E-Erza!" he screamed, his hands no longer clutching his knee but instead on the ground as he crawled away. He hadn't really listened to her previous words.

She looked at him, her brown eyes dancing with anger and probably annoyance.

"Get up," she ordered. He followed those words, scrambling up to his feet as he brushed the dust off.

As far as he knew, he was pretty far from his desk - the back of his clothed thigh was pressing against the edge of Strauss' - Mirajane Strauss' - desk.

Her desk was about 3 feet away? Maybe 6 feet away from Erza's office. Pfft, he didn't care.

"Y-Yes?" he squeaked, not wanting to get hit or shot or anything. Especially fired.

"Gray was on the phone with Michelle for about an hour, and he still is. I need you to go and see Dan. Alberona was in there before, but she said she needed to get some more alcohol. She hasn't been back for about an hour." Natsu's eyebrow twitched.

"Y-Yeah," he got out, starting to walk in the direction of the interrogation room.

* * *

He opened the door and walked in, his gaze quickly landing on the scowling, brown-haired man.

"I have no business with you. Let me go this instant."

Natsu sighed and dragged the chair out from under the table, causing a loud screeching noise which seemed to not falter his stern look for once - in the past, it used to make him scream whenever someone did that. Well, he always had sensitive hearing - he couldn't help it.

He sat and had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the smirk from playing onto his face.

He loved Dan's look right now.

No - he wasn't a sadist. At all. He just couldn't describe his feelings right now.

"Nah. Rather not. I'd rather just sit here with you for the next... 45 hours and force the stupid information outta you. Tell me everything you know about Miss. Lucy Heartfilia."

Dan scowled at him once more, his eyes visibly darkening_._

"_Everything_," he hissed, slamming his fist onto the table.

He, like everyone, was getting impatient. He didn't want to pass it on to the LAPD - the next one on the list - and Captain Orlando, but wanted to finish it as quick as possible so he wouldn't be bugged by it.

So far, he wasn't doing so good.

The pink-haired man opened his mouth to demand some more, before the phone in his back pocket rang. He rolled his eyes and sighed, pulling it out as he stepped out of the interrogation room.

"Go for Dragneel."

"_Hey, Salamander. How's the case going?_"

He scowled at the voice. "Shut up, Gajeel. Did Levy convince you again? If she did, put her on, will you? I gotta talk to her for a sec."

He heard a bit of grunting and some shuffling before a fairly familiar voice on the line.

"_Ah, hello, Officer. Something up_?"

"Yeah, yeah, no. I dunno. You know anything on Dan Straight, Michelle Lobster or Sting Eucliffe? If you do, telling me right now would be nice."

"_Eh? Michelle Lobster? Don't you mean Imitatia?_"

Natsu blinked, confused. Had Sting given him the wrong information? Or was Levy this very moment? "I-Imitatia? As in Michelle Imitatia or Imitatia Lobster?"

"_No. Just Imitatia._"

He furrowed his brows. He wasn't liking this. One bit. "I don't get it. Why didn't Sting just tell me about Michelle - uh, Imitatia's hidden identity?"

"_Because he didn't know. Lu-chan told me the week before her death - that's how I know._"

Natsu's eyes went wide. He had to tell Gray.

Right now. Literally, right now.

He started toward back into the main part of the department.

"Gray!" he yelled, his hand covering the lower part of his phone, despite the fact the blue-haired woman could hear him over the line, though muffled.

"Sorry, could you excuse me for a moment, Michelle?"

The black-haired man put the call on hold and made his way to the pink-haired cop.

Natsu nodded his head toward Erza's office, signalling that they should be heading to her office.

Gray nodded mutely, following his colleague to the Captain's office, watching him walk right in, his left hand still over the eletrical device.

"Hey, Erza. You got a moment?"

The said woman looked up from her paperwork and took her glasses off. "What's wrong?"

He removed his left hand. "Levy, I'm gonna put you on speaker, yeah? You better tell us everything you know. Everything Miss. Heartfilia had told you."

"_Okay, sure._"

Natus removed the object from his ear and put the call on speaker, placing it on Erza's desk.

"Go," he ordered.

"_Well, uh, for one, Michelle's real name isn't Michelle Lobster. It's Imitatia. Michelle Lobster is actually a patient at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Imitatia is a Russian, as you probably know already. And the fact she speaks German, French and English as well. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, Imitatia is a major criminal in Russia. She escaped at last minute and met Jude Heartfilia - Lu-chan's father. He took her in and made her Lu-chan's distant cousin. Sting probably told you that Lu-chan's mother made her Lu-chan's cousin through fake records, but that wasn't true. Lu-chan told me that her mother... well..._"

She had gone quiet, they noticed.

However, they didn't urge her or anything. She let her get it out on her own.

"_Lu-chan... wouldn't really let me tell you guys this, as you're the NYPD, and all, but because I really want to help and find her killer, I might as well tell you. Lu-chan told me that her mother was a spy in the Russian army._"

Natsu choked. "S-Sorry, what? A-A spy? T-That's like... impossible, right?"

"_No, not really. It's quite possible,_" she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Natsu furrowed his brows once more. "How, though?"

Erza eyes locked with the two cops'. "Two explanations. One; she was born in Russia and moved to Germany where she met Jude and had Miss. Heartfilia. Two; she was born in Europe and moved to Russia for a short period of time but then moved to Germany and met Jude and had Miss. Heartfilia."

Gray eyebrows shot up slightly, his eyes holding confusion. "Why Europe, Erza?"

She shifted her attention from both of them two to the single, black-haired cop. "Because, as we know, Miss. Heartfilia could speak German, French and Russian, right? And English, of course, but that's just default."

Natsu nodded. "Point there, Captain. So there's two explanations - one; she was born in Russia and moved to Germany where she met Jude and had Miss. Heartfilia, like Erza said. But two; she was born in _France _and moved to Russia for a short period of time but then moved to Germany for the rest of her life and married Jude and had Miss. Heartfilia amongst it all."

"_No. Lu-chan never told me anything about her mother's birthplace. I always suspected France as well, but I guess now... we'll never know._"

"No," Natsu intervened. "How about Miss. Heartfilia's father? Jude Heartfilia? He should still be alive, right? I mean, we could always contact him and everything."

Erza shook her head in disagreement. "No, if we did that, wouldn't we just be adding to our list of suspects?"

He scowled, scrapping the idea. Everything was starting to go down the drain. All this effort. "Yeah... damn."

The pondered for a few minutes - even Levy went silent.

Dan and Imitatia - formerly Michelle Lobster - were practically long forgotten now. It was pretty much at the back of their minds.

"We have 45 hours left to get enough evidence, and I don't think we're getting anywhere at this rate," Natsu mumbled.

Everyone else murmured in agreement, not saying much after that.

"That's it!"

Levy nearly scared the others out of their skin.

"What is it, McGarden?" Erza asked.

Yes, she knew Levy. They were childhood friends. In fact, probably the whole of the NYPD knew each other from childhood.

"I mean, we could try out Natsu's idea and contact Sir. Heartfilia. He's in hospital, the same one as Michelle, so we can always travel to Washington D.C and go from there."

Erza grabbed her coat from the back of her desk chair and stood up. "All right. We'll go now."

The two boys looked at her with disbelief. "W-Wait, now? It'll take us about 4 hours," Gray said. "By car, obviously. I mean, I don't think Natsu would even want to be on a damn train. And for once, neither do I."

Erza looked at them sternly. "Of course we'll be taking the car. Yes, there'll be traffic, but we'll get to DC in time before midnight, judging by the time right now.

Natsu nodded after recovering from thinking about trains - or any type of transport.

It made him sick. It made want to vomit. Loudly.

He grabbed his phone from his desk and turned off speaker so he could speak with Levy privately.

"You gonna come with us to DC?"

"Yes. I'm already in Washington, so I'll be waiting for by the Smithsonian Museum."

"Which specific museum, Levy?"

"Uhm, let's see... how about... the Air and Space Museum?"

Natsu nodded in approval. "Sure. Meet you there."

* * *

"Ohmigod, I feel _so _sick..."

He vomited loudly into the plastic bag, him laying across the backseat of Erza's car.

The scarlet-haired woman was driving about 10 miles above the damn limit, but that was expected once you get used to her.

Other police officers from other states even attempted to stop her in the past, but once they recognized that she was the Captain of the NYPD, they let her go and let her continue with her high speeding.

"G-Go slower... Erza... you're gonna..." he paused to vomit once more - he saw Gray scrunch up his noise in disgust and Erza's face not falter that much, "... kill me!" he finished.

He had told Erza to get them to the Smithsonian Museum, the world's largest museum in the world.

"Shut it, Dragneel. We have to get there in time. McGarden would be expecting us to be on time, don't you think?"

The said man groaned as he gave up on vomiting into the bag and threw it out, starting his routine to vomit out of the car as he attempted not to get some of it on the side of his Captain's black car.

This went on for another 2 hours.

That was when Erza finally arrived in the city of Washington D.C and halted at a traffic light, literally stomping on the brakes.

"Gah!" Natsu cried, suddenly being thrown off his seat and onto the car floor.

"A-Are we there?" he moaned, rubbing the back of his head and sitting up straight, sticking his head out of the window in case the car started again and he wanted to vomit so badly.

Erza glanced at him in the rear view mirror. "We're nearly there. Hold on for a few more minutes, Dragneel."

He groaned once more and held onto his stomach.

* * *

"Ah! You're here!" Levy shouted, a wide smile on her face.

She looked happy.

Natsu, on the other hand, didn't. He looked dead.

"Yes. I apologize for the slight delay; we had to grab something to eat," she explained.

The bluenette nodded and pointing at a large building in the distance of their view, going on about something about hospitals and patients and Michelle Lobster and - .

Michelle Lobster.

The pink-haired cop's eyes shot open and he was alert.

That's right. He wasn't at the Smithsonian to look at stuff from history or anything like that. He was at the Smithsonian Museum - no, he was in _Washington D.C _because he was here to see Jude Heartfilia and even Michelle Lobster's true face.

* * *

**The weekend's coming up, so I thought I'd upload a bit - uh, a lot earlier. A day after -laugh-! What's wrong with me? I'm uploading a new chapter so fast; I'm so into this story. And no, I hadn't forgotton about Levy and Gajeel and Sting and Rogue and Minerva and everybody else. More Minerva appearences will make their way sooner or later.**

**Review for me, yeah? Arigatou! Until next time!**


	6. Family Ties

Natsu swallowed hard once he entered MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

He didn't like hospitals that much, he'll admit.

"You know, Lu-chan was an astronomer. She was really good at her job, and could pretty much indentify every single star in the night sky. I found it really fascinating, personally." Levy explained before asking for Jude Heartfilia's room, the receptionist happily telling them.

"Miss. Heartfilia was an astronomer?" Natsu asked, clearly amused. He really didn't expect that. He expected something like a teacher, waitress, scientist... nurse. But definitely not astronomer.

"Yeah," Levy continued, leading the other 3 and her into the elevator at the end of the hall. She pressed the floor number button and watched the doors close with a hiss. "But she also wanted to be an author as well - she was in the middle of writing her own novel for months. I also read every single chapter she wrote! It was so good! Until she... you know."

The three NYPD cops' expressions darkened. They didn't like it either.

Gray sighed and decided to lighten the mood, somehow, as they arrived at their floor and stepped out of the elevator once the doors hissed back open.

"Besides, how do you know Miss. Heartfilia, McGarden?"

Levy squeaked. "Eh? How do I know Lu-chan? Well, let's see... it was a few months ago. Maybe I just forgot to introduce her to you!" she admitted, laughing nervously as her hand landed on the cool metal of the doorknob to Jude Heartfilia's room. "Look at that, we're already here," she whispered the last part, but they all caught it.

She was about to swing the door open, but the somebody - possibly a doctor or nurse or anybody - opened the door for them.

"Why, hello. Who are you guys? Relatives of Sir. Heartfilia?" the nurse - as it was revealed - gave them a smile which could brighten pretty much anybody's day, but in this case, nobody's.

The three cops then instantly grabbed them badges from the inside of their jacket and held them up, forcing the nurse to step aside and let them into the room.

They all expected an empty chair or two next to Sir. Heartfilia's bed, but no.

Sitting in the chair nearest to the window, was Minerva Orlando, Captain of the LAPD.

"Minerva..." Erza scowled, the said woman looking up, standing up and walking toward them.

"Erza Scarlet. What a surprise."

The scarlet-haired woman's scowl widened. "How did you get here? When, even?"

Minerva gave her a sly smile. "Why, I flew here. How else? Plus, I'm about 3 hours behind you lot, so I had to take off a bit early."

Natsu furrowed his brows. She had a point. Driving would take about 30 hours, but flight would take 3, 4 hours tops. "But wait, how did she know we'd be coming here?"

Erza pondered for a moment. "Sting Eucliffe," she stated for the opposing Captain.

The two boys let out a noise of surprise. "H-How - ? Sting wouldn't... I mean, yeah, sure, he's been involved with this drug thing but I don't think he has anything to do with the LAPD and Captain Orlando!" Natsu exclaimed.

Captain Orlando shook her head, her braids brushing her shoulders as she did. "In fact, Detective Dragneel, Mr. Eucliffe has connections with me. We dated for a few months, but I ended it as he got boring."

Natsu blinked. "Detective? I-I'm a Officer... though..." he trailed off, looking at Erza.

She gave him a small smile.

That's right. He had always classed himself as a normal officer, but he never asked his own Captain.

He smiled inwardly, but his serious face was still on his outer person.

"Sting had connections with you? Natsu, what did you do?!" Erza then swiftly turned her head, her expression instantly made up of fury and anger, to face the pink-haired Detective.

"W-What! I only told him that I'd be going to D.C to see Sir. Heartfilia!" he answered, not knowing that Sting even knew the opposing Captain personally.

The black-haired woman nodded. "That's right... that's what Sting said. He said to get to MedStar Washington Hospital Center as soon as possible." A smirk broke onto her face. "Of course, I knew this was a private hospital. I suppose you lot got in somehow thanks to Captain Scarlet?"

The said woman hastily shifted her attention to Minerva. "You - ! We shouldn't even be here bickering. If you would excuse us, we'd like to talk outside in the hallway. Me and you, Minerva."

The two boys looked at her with confusion, whilst the other woman's eyes lit up with amusement.

"S-Sorry, what? Captain, we can't just leave you out there with Captain Orlando," Natsu hissed, trying to sound formal - he was in public, after all, not at the precinct.

The two women just ignored the Detective and walked out, starting their own argument outside.

It was silence in Jude Heartfilia's room, as Gray walked over and sat in one of the two chairs.

Natsu sighed. "Oh, what the hell."

He massaged his temples as he looked at the bed of Jude Heartfilia.

Oh, shit.

That's right.

He was here to ask questions about Lucy Heartfilia's mother and maybe Lucy Heartfilia herself.

He walked over and looked at the unconscious man.

There was almost no chance that he'd wake up, but maybe if he hoped - .

A long beeping sound echoed throughout the room.

Gray and Natsu both shared a look.

Shit.

Shit, shit shit.

Everything was now officially down the drain.

It was over.

They had reached a dead end.

Case closed.

* * *

It was a silent ride back to New York - even Natsu didn't feel like barfing or vomiting or any of that sort.

Levy had already gone the moment the NYPD Detectives and Captain stepped into the hospital room. They guessed she had got Gajeel to pick her up or something along those lines.

"I-It's over..." Gray whispered, looking blankly at the space in front of him.

The other two tightened their lips.

Erza also narrowed her eyes as she stepped harder on the gas pedal, wanting to get back as soon as possible.

Natsu, however, was laying across the backseat, staring at the ceiling.

"_Don't worry, Erza! I'm gonna solve every single case out there! No matter what! I'm not gonna give up!_"

Those were the words he said to his childhood friend after the first few cases he had solved with Gray and Alberona.

"This is really gonna ruin our ego," Natsu mumbled, earning himself silence from the other two.

The NYPD was also pretty famous for the fact that they never gave up on a case until they did solve it.

But in this case, they had no choice but to pass it on.

However, Natsu wasn't gonna let that happen, and he sat up from his position and sat in the car seat properly.

"I'm gonna give Sting a call," he announced, punching in the said man's number as he also tried to do his seatbelt properly simultaneously.

After all, if Erza was going fast enough, he would've died by now.

* * *

"Hello?" Sting asked, sorting out some paperwork on his desk.

"_Hey, Sting._" He recognized that voice. Of course he did, it was Natsu's.

"Oh, hey, Natsu-san. What's up?"

"_You never told me anything about Minerva Orlando. What are you hiding?_"

He froze in his spot, slowly putting down the small pile of papers he was going to staple.

"U-Uhm, well, you see..."

Sting was holding so many secrets, all of them he didn't want to tell.

"W-Where are you right now, Natsu-san?"

First, he attempted to change the subject.

"_I'm going back to NYC from DC, but that doesn't matter. What are you hiding?_"

He sounded serious and pissed off, the blond man noted.

He decided to stay silent for a few minutes, switching on the TV nearby.

"_It has been reported that the NYPD had given up on the Heartfilia murder case. Hold on, I'm getting something new. It has now been reported that the NYPD has picked the case back into their hands. They will be continuing to find the killer of the heiress, Lucy Heartfilia._"

Sting narrowed his eyes.

One question pondered in his mind.

Why did they give up in the first place?

"Hey, you guys do know that Lucy was the heiress of the Heartfilia Fortune, right?"

He heard choking, sounds of surprise and tyres screeching on the other end.

"_Miss. Heartfilia was the heiress of the Heartfilia Fortune?!_"

Sting blinked. It seemed like Captain Scarlet had taken the phone off its original owner.

"Y-Yes," he answered, slightly taken aback. "H-How come that shocks you? I always thought you had already looked into Lucy's personal information."

He heard groaning, which he thought came from Detective Fullbuster.

"_Bro, get your head outta your ass. We thought the previous detectives had all the information we needed to get somewhere, but no._"

Sting sighed, and leaned back in his desk chair.

"No, you guys should get your heads out of your asses. Natsu-san didn't ask anything about Lucy's personal life. Only Michelle."

"_Don't you mean Imitatia?_"

The blond man furrowed his brows in confusion. "I don't follow."

He heard a sigh. "_Michelle Lobster's real name is Imitatia, if you didn't know. Plus, before when we talked, we were only focusing on Imitatia. Now we're focusing on Miss. Heartfilia, so - whole different story, Sting,_" Natsu stated over the line.

The blond nodded in understanding.

"All right, then. Oh, yeah, how about I put you on speaker so I don't have to stress so much whilst doing paperwork?"

"_Sure thing._"

He also heard other murmurs of agreement over the line and put his phone on speaker, placing it on the desk next to the piles of paper.

"All right, so, what do you want to know? About Lucy, of course."

"_Right, of course. We thought we'd ask you about her mother. We were going to ask her father but he... kinda... you know_," Natsu said, his voice getting quieter.

Sting frowned. Everyone who was his family was pretty much dead. Except Rogue, but the two never did talk properly that much, despite the fact that they were together nearly everywhere.

"I-I see. Well, uh, I don't really know much about Lucy's mother, to be honest. I mean, sure, I heard stories from Lucy all the time, but I didn't get adopted early enough to meet her. Michelle - uh, Imitatia got in before me." He sighed.

Now that he thought about it, when was the last time he talked or even saw Imitatia?

Then, a sudden knock came to the door.

"Be quiet, guys. I'll keep you on the line, just stay quiet."

He heard the same murmurs of agreement from a couple of minutes ago and slipped his phone in his pocket, not bothering to hang up.

"Come in," he said in a loud enough voice.

The door creaked open and he saw the person he'd never see again in his life standing there.

"M-Michelle."

* * *

They all shared looks.

Erza had stopped the car at the side of road, not caring if people were trying to look in and see what was going on.

The three of them were sitting in a triangle-like formation - Gray and Erza changing their posture to face the back and Natsu sitting there, in the middle of the driver's and passenger's seats.

The pink-haired Detective had the phone in his hand, trying to catch the words being exchanged along with the others.

"You know, I'm just saying this, but we probably look really awkward like this, in these positions," Gray muttered, chuckling to himself.

The other two gave him a small laugh.

"Yeah, probably," Natsu muttered back, trying not to be too loud, still concentrating on the other line.

* * *

"M-Michelle," he greeted, trying hard not to think her as somebody he didn't know.

"Hello, Sting," the woman greeted back, bowing slightly as her dirty blonde hair fell over her shoulders.

She still had the same Russian accent he remembered from all those years back.

"Sit down. It's been a while," he said, gesturing to the chair opposite him.

The woman nodded and closed the door behind her, making her way toward the chair before sitting down.

Silence crept up in between them, nobody speaking.

Michelle looked up from her lap and stared the blond man who was sorting out paperwork.

"How have you been?" she asked.

Sting looked at her, and shrugged. "Not bad. I mean, Father died a couple of hours ago."

Crap.

He wasn't supposed to say that.

The long-distant cousin gasped, her eyes going wide. "W-What? U-Uncle died? H-How?" Her voice was quick and low in volume.

He shrugged again. "I'm not sure. The NYPD told me that it his heart just stopped."

Double crap.

He wasn't supposed to say that, either.

She narrowed her eyes. "The NYPD? Which Detective?"

"H-How did you know they were Detectives?"

A small scowl stretched across her feminine features. "Tell me who 'they' were, Sting."

He quickly muttered the two male Detectives' names under his breath, hoping that she wouldn't catch it.

"Detectives Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster? Interesting."

And...

Triple crap.

Maybe he should run. Like, literally, run.

He coughed awkwardly and didn't move from his spot, instead of running out.

"Y-Yeah, more or less," he answered, looking everywhere except his adoptive, long-distant cousin.

His mind was pratically everywhere right now.

The plan was messed up - not that there was one in the first place, anyway.

He didn't pay much attention to the things happening around him until he heard his office door slam shut.

Sting looked back at the chair opposite him to find it empty.

It was as if Michelle ran out to kill them or something.

Oh, crap.

Maybe she did run out so she can find them and bury them alive.

Pulling out his phone, as breathed a sigh of relief that the no one had hung up.

"Hey, guys. You got all that, right?" he asked, his eyes dancing with worry.

He heard Erza answer with a 'yes' in the background, with the two boys murmering in agreement. "_Michelle also seemed to have mumbled something about... uhm_," Erza paused. "_W-What was it that you caught, Natsu?_"

"_She said something about, uh, avenging Lucy and her father, or something along those lines,_" Natsu slowly said, some rustling heard that Sting guessed was shrugging.

The blond quickly mumbled a goodbye and hung up, standing up and sliding his phone back into his pocket.

He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and slipped it on, swinging his office door open and stomping down the hallway to the elevator, starting to spam the down arrow button - maybe breaking it.

The doors slid open and he made his way in, frustratedly pressing the ground floor and close door buttons.

He seemed to be wanting to get out as quick as possible

The thing was, however, was how he hated how slow the doors were closing, though they eventually did close and the evelator shaft started to move.

"I probably won't be in work for about a week, Yukino," he hastily told his receptionist as he sped out of the elevator and through the automatic doors.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Eucliffe," she quietly replied, though he wouldn't be able to hear it as he was already gone.

* * *

**Hm, wonder why Sting's so desperate to get out. Well, we'll see next chapter. ;)  
**


	7. Cold Case and Omelettes

**Have I mentioned Jellal yet? I don't think I have.**

* * *

Sting slammed the door open, before strolling in and slamming his hands onto Erza's desk.

She didn't flinch.

"Sting. What's wrong?" she calmly asked, taking off her glasses and placing them on the wooden desk next to the picture of her and her fiance, Jellal Fernandes.

She watched him suck in a breath, as if he was about to do this giant speech thing.

"Michelle, uh, Imitatia. She said something about her avenging Lucy and father, right?"

Natsu and Gray came in after a few minutes.

The blond looked over his shoulder and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. E-Everything's happening all in one week. It's crazy."

The black-haired male chuckled. "Yeah, don't say; it's been pretty crazy all over the USA," he stated, starting to go on about what was happening is pretty much every state in the country they call the United States of America.

But before he could even get through half of his first sentence of his unnecessary speech, the pink-haired colleague elbowed him in the rib, hissing at him to shut up.

The Captain tightened her lips. "There's no guarantee this'll work, but how about calling somebody close to the family? I mean, obviously not someone who has direction connections - a blood relative, but someone who has connections but not a blood relvative." She glanced at the boys. "You follow me?"

They all had blank expressions until, one by one, their expressions changed to their own version of understanding.

"Ohh, that's what she meant."

"Now, I get it."

"T-That's actually not a bad way to put it..."

The woman nodded. "Exactly." She glanced at the blond whose arms were now not on her desk but instead by his sides. "Sting, do you know anybody who's close to the family but not a blood relative?"

His face plunged into concentration as the three other mortals watched the gears in his mind work.

"W-Well," he started, earning himself curious but serious glances from the other three, "there was this one woman who looked after me, Lucy and Michelle most of the time, though there were other servants in our home. But, truth be told, Spetto, the woman who looked after us, is the only one I can remember from the household."

Natsu nodded. "Spetto, huh? You got any contact of her?"

Sting turned his head to face the pink-haired Detective. "Yeah, but I'm not sure if she still lives at the same address. It's possible, Natsu-san, but if she isn't, there'll be a lot of research."

Natsu opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the voice that belonged to Erza Scarlet.

"We'll go. Let's go. I'll put Alberona in charge," she stated, surprised gasps coming out of the NYPD Detectives' mouths. "What? She can't be trusted?"

Gray shook his head frantically. "N-No! It's not that! It's just that... well... she's not here half the time 'cause she's usually either buying beer or having drinking contests at bars and winning them."

Shrugging, he watched his Captain's face change from a swarm of expressions - as if reconsidering who should be left in charge.

"Fine," she decided, nodding her head, "I'll leave Strauss in charge."

Strauss was Mirajane Strauss - a kind woman who could be a giant bully at times. She never really did fight on the front lines, but no one actually questioned her about it as they all knew how big of a meanie, demon and bully she could be.

Especially Gray and Natsu - they were both bullied by her when they were kids.

* * *

The four travelled all the way back to Los Angeles, to readjust to the timezone and to drive to the address Sting had given them.

They parked in front of a normal enough house. It didn't look fancy or anything.

The house looked like it could fit a normal family in.

Sting stepped out and the three NYPD members followed suit.

He opened the somewhat new-looking gate as he made his way down the stone path, his blue eyes scanning across the flowers being cared for on both sides of the path.

Stepping up onto the porch, he lifted his hand to knock on the door.

The three behind him attempted to relax their stern faces a little, but couldn't. They seriously didn't know why.

They kept their mouths shut, and waited for some sort of sign that there was someone in.

Five minutes had passed, and Sting decided to knock again.

Another five passed - still no answer.

"Damn," Gray cursed,"I knew we should've bought some others." He checked his watch. "Well, not too late to call them, right?"

The black-haired male heard his colleague scoff. "What?" he scowled.

"We are _not _gonna wait 3, 4 hours tops for reinforcements, bastard. It'd be a waste of time. We might as well just break in and see what's up," he answered, his black eyes locking with Gray's midnight blue onces.

Erza nodded, stepping into the conversation. "Dragneel's right, Fullbuster. We should break in." Looking at Sting for the umpteenth time that day, she watched him give her a nod and stepped a little to the side.

Captain Scarlet raised her hand and did a gesture. In a matter of seconds, Natsu and Gray were no longer by her side but positioned in front of the door, in the same pose Natsu did on his first day in Los Angeles.

A few moments later, the sounds of crashing was heard throughout the whole neighbourhood - some people even came out of their own homes and started cursing at them for the 'racket they were creating'.

"No one's here," Natsu mumbled, walking out of the living room - the first room to the left after entering the entrance hall.

Gray and Erza came from the stairs as Sting came out of the end room, the kitchen.

"There's no one here. But everything is still in its rightful place - the duvets haven't been stripped of their sheets, clothes are still in closets, picture frames are still on nightstands," Erza agreed, extending her agreement.

Gray nodded. "Point. Nothing's in boxes. Everything is just... like... it's like time stopped in this house," he muttered.

The three looked at the blond, Sting's gaze on the floor of the entrance hall.

They admit they had slight sympathy for him, but didn't express it much.

Natsu looked at his Captain and colleague. "You think something happened?" he whispered.

They both stayed silent, looking somewhere else other than the Sting.

The pink-haired Detective had this sickening feeling. It was as if he knew something absolutely atrocious was going to happen to them sooner or later.

Slowly, they decided to file out and leave the house for later - they had bigger problems to deal with at the moment, and they really did not want to add even more.

* * *

Natsu growled lowly as he threw his badge onto his desk, before sighing and falling backwards into his chair.

"No," he said. "No. We're not putting this stupid case in the Cold Cases part or giving it up. It's not gonna happen."

Gray looked at him, a determined spark in his eyes. "Yeah," he agreed, nodding his head. "We've already let 1 slip into the cold cases, but this one ain't slippin' through our fingers - uh-uh."

Natsu then suddenly shot up from his seat. "Oh, yeah - now that I think about it, that one cold case for us might be connected to this murder case. Remember? Orlando couldn't solve it therefore she passed it onto us but then we couldn't solve and put it into the cold cases though the fact we didn't solve it didn't really make it on the news."

He walked in the directions of the records room. "I'm gonna go search for it. As I said, might be connected to this case." He pointed to the floor - his colleague knew it was the Heartfilia murder case - and waved him off, walking further and further away until turning a corner.

A door slamming open was heard from the main precinct and Gray shook his head, sighing with a small smile on his lips, already used to the pink-haired man's serious antics.

* * *

"Where the fuck is that cold case? I swear I put it somewhere down here," he muttered under his breath, his attitude and actions starting to mirror what happened the day when he visited the LAPD.

He scratched the back of his head, his brows furrowed as he leant against a nearby table.

He leant against it more to the point he was actually sitting on it with his arms crossed across his chest, staring at the metal drawers in front of him.

"Shit. I gotta continue searching - we're not letting this ruin our reputation."

He searched for what seemed like months - even years.

He then pulled out one drawer and skimmed each of the folders, coming across one folder saying some information about something he knew had instant connection with the current case.

_Layla Heartfilia - murdered 7-Jul-2007_

He sucked in a short breath, remembering that fateful day in his perspective.

His father had disappeared, without a trace. Natsu didn't remember much, but he had one reminder of his father; his scarf around his neck. He loved it and treasured it - after all, it was one of his most prized possessions.

He shook his head and wiped the bad memories out his head. He had no time for this.

He slammed the folder shut and gripped it, simultaneously shutting the metal drawer with the other hand.

"All right, now this is what I'm looking for," he said, walking out of the record room, turning a few corners before ending up back at the main precinct.

Gray was the first one to spot him. "Hey, what'd you find?"

He glanced down at the file on the table and his eyes widened. "Dude, this is the cold case file. You really sure you wanna do this? With the other Heartfilia case as well."

The pink-haired man nodded. "'Course I do. As long as Erza says it's okay."

He got up from his seat and strolled toward Erza's office, knocking on the open door. "Yo, Captain. Is it okay if we - "

"It's fine. Just don't get too caught up and lose track of the Lucy Heartfilia murder case - we now have two going on, not one. I'm giving you a warning, Natsu," she answered immediately, not looking up from her current paperwork

He also noticed something. His Captain almost never called him 'Natsu' except when they were little kids and even teens, but now that they were in a proper workplace, Captain Scarlet had started calling him 'Dragneel' more and more often.

The Detective blinked a few times, before a large grin cracked onto his face.

"Thank you, Captain!"

Erza, this time, looked up and gave the NYPD Detective a small smile. "It's all right. Don't do anything rash. Solving one might not solve the other, though. Feel free to ask me if you need help, okay?"

Natsu will admit it was pretty rare to see Erza like this - caring for her comrades' health and all - but it hadn't disappeared, as far as he knew.

He nodded, a large grin still on his face. "Yeah - you can count on it."

* * *

"You gotta be kiddin' me. This has to be coincidence, Gray," Natsu said firmly, looking over his shoulder to glance at all sorts of papers scattered all over the table and his colleague.

The two were currently in Natsu's residence in New York, near the precinct.

Sitting the kitchen was what Gray was doing this moment, whilst Natsu was cooking some food for the two to eat.

"No, it couldn't have. How come then, the time your father disappeared, and the time Layla Heartfilia died - or murdered, whichever way you wanna put it - are the same time?" Gray countered, raising a brow as he watched the pink-haired man tilt the pan over the plates to slide the food - omelettes as they're the only things Natsu could make without blowing up the place - onto them.

Natsu paused in his movements. He pondered for a moment, the black-haired male noticing his silence.

"See? You can't think of anything. Obviously someone, or maybe a group of stupid people, had this set up."

Silence lingered in the air for a few minutes longer, before Gray nearly jumped in his seat as Natsu harshly and quickly slammed the plates down.

"Shut up, Gray. Don't talk about my father as if he's been killed or something. He's just disappeared. He'll return someday - I just know it."

The said man's widened slightly before a look of sadness washed over his face. "Sorry, man. Won't happen again," he said, grabbing one fork of the two and stabbing it into his omelette before putting it into his mouth. "Wow, these are pretty good."

Natsu chuckled, his previous attitude back on again. "Yeah, no, these are the only things I can cook without actually killing the place, y'know?"

Gray chuckled as well as he ate. "Yeah, I know - me too. Damn, really is hard to cook later nowadays, especially since we didn't listen to Mira-chan's cooking lessons."

"God, I know. Maybe Mira's cooking the best food _ever _right now."

"And maybe Erza's eating strawberry cake with them."

"Shit, I'm so hungry."

"You want me to make more omelettes?"

"Yeah. It's the best you can do, anyway."

"Shut up! At least I can do better than you!"

"Oh yeah? You wanna? You wanna have a contest, bastard?"

"Hey, now, you're the one challenging me to this - not vice versa. Don't blame me if you burn yourself and die."

"That's it! You're gonna lose, Dragneel!"

"All right - I'm all fired up!"

A few minutes later, multiple sounds of loud crashing and yelling - maybe cursing mixed in there, as well - was heard from the pink-haired Detective's apartment, but no one really bothered to interrupt them - it was as if this happened everyday.

* * *

"Now, what happened to you two?" Erza asked, hands on her hips as she stood over the two boys in her office.

The two gulped, not liking how the college day memories started coming back to them - everyday being sent to the vice-principal's office to get a lecture on behaviour and alike. _Erza's _office to get a freaking lecture on behaviour and alike.

"W-Well..." Gray started, giving a small glance to the man next to him.

Natsu kicked him in the shin, earning himself a kick back. He hissed in anger before answering the question. "We were, uh, having this cooking contest then it kinda just got... outta hand," he admitted, giving his higher-up a nervous, lopsided grin.

Their Captain nodded, narrowing her eyes a little.

She knew they were both bad at cooking and competitive, but did they really get actual work done yesterday at Natsu's apartment?

"Did you get any work done, by any chance, within that giant "cooking contest that kinda just got outta hand"?" she quoted most of the pink-haired Detectives, catching them both paling. "I'll take that as a no," she then stated.

Sighing, she shook her head and sat down.

She pulled open one of her drawers and grabbed something which looked something like a ribbon and tied her hair up with it.

Once she had finished that task, she held up two fingers - as if giving a peace sign. "Two. Two days. You two have two days to find _any piece _of information on any of the cases you're working on. Do whatever you want. Travel, research, use Sting or Dan to help. Whatever."

The two boys stood up simultaneously, knocking the over and nearly knocking each other over, which almost lead to a fight, until one of them remembered the fact that Erza was right there.

"T-Thanks, Erza. We'll be at our desks if you need us."

The woman nodded, giving them a small smile before turning away, her eyes briefly stopping at her picture of her and her fiance.

"Where are you, Jellal?"

* * *

**Now, I was originally gonna get Imitatia/Michelle into this chapter, but I decided to leave her out in the end. She'll reappear somewhere, somehow or another.**

**Seriously, I don't think I've mentioned Jellal yet, and I might be bringing him into the story.**


	8. Bromance

**I should be updating Super Fantastic Wonderland, but no. This comes first because I'm so into it. It's like, the only thing I want to continue at this very moment.**

**This chapter is mainly Gray+Natsu bromance with a certain someone's appearance.**

**I didn't know what to call this chapter, okay.**

* * *

It's already been about a week trying to solve this case, and everything was already out of control.

Natsu and Gray decided to team up, agreeing that there was no chance in solving any of the cases they were working on alone.

"Right," Natsu said, looking at the scattered papers, "where do you wanna start?"

Gray stared down, his dark blue eyes scanning them briefly. "Not sure. How about doing some travelling?"

He watched his colleague shake his head. "No - Erza said we had two days. Maybe asking Sting will help."

He furrowed his brows. "Huh, you have a point. Call him up."

The pink-haired man just chuckled. "Dude, he ain't in LA. He's still in New York, you know. We can just visit him in the hotel he's staying in."

Gray looked at him, dumbfounded. "Oh, yeah. That's right. But what hotel did he say he was stayin' in?"

The other male's expression changed from slightly smug to confusion. "Uh..." He seriously had no clue whatsoever. "I actually dunno. I think it was..."

Gray watched his fellow Detective try to remember the hotel Sting was staying in for a couple of minutes, and within that time, he had made himself and his colleague a mug of coffee as he knew they'd be up for the 48 hours they had.

"Oh, that's right! He said he was staying at the Gild Hall hotel on Gold Street!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed, shooting up from his chair.

That action nearly caused Gray to spill the two mugs of coffee, but luckily didn't. "Woah, bro! God, don't be so excited! I just made two mugs of coffee, moron."

Natsu looked over his shoulder and let out a small laugh. "Sorry," he apologized, scratching the back of his head as he sat back down. "Anyway, I just remembered that Sting said he was staying at the Gild Hall hotel on Gold Street."

Gray nodded, placing Natsu's mug on his side of the table before sitting down in his own chair. "Yeah, I got that. Anything else you remember?"

A couple of seconds passed, and the pink-haired man just shook his head. "Nah, nothing."

The opposite man nodded, staring down at his mug. "Oh, that's right," he suddenly said, his gaze shifting to the man sitting across from him. "What happened to, uh, what's-his-face? Uh, Dan, or something? The guy who was demanding drugs from Sting."

Natsu looked up as well from his own mug - which had cute little dragons on (he's kind of a 7-year-old in a 20-year-old's body) - and locked his gaze with Gray's. "Oh, Miss Heartfilia's fiance? Yeah, no, Cana, Mira, Loke or somebody convinced him to give himself in, or something - I dunno the details. Mira just told me the main things."

The black-haired man chuckled. "It probably was Strauss. I mean, she's the only other scary one other than Erza. But then again, could've been anyone in our precinct."

"Totally," Natsu agreed, chuckling as well as shaking his head.

Silence fell upon them once more and it stayed like that until Natsu cleared his throat.

"So, uh, we should get to work, shouldn't we?" he suggested, sliding his empty coffee mug to the side and starting to organize the papers that were still scattered for the past half hour.

Gray also cleared his throat, mirroring his best friend's (?) actions. "Yeah, no, we really should," he agreed.

After that, another silence fell upon them - an uncomfortable one, at that.

Then, all of a sudden, a knock came to the door.

"I'll go get it," they both said simultaneously, standing up from their seats. "No, I said that I'll - "

They threw each other the same look of hatred, but Gray then sighed before sitting down. "You go get it - it's your place, after all."

The pink-haired man nodded slowly and gave his colleague a look of confusion before he travelled to the door and swung it open.

"Hello, Natsu. I heard from Erza that my dear brother was here. Do you mind?"

A woman who looked not much older than him had appeared at his doorstep. She had waist-length black hair and a ribbon sitting atop it. Her face consisted of eyes with a reddish-hue to them, a nose and pinkish lips that were smiling at him. Her body attire, however, consisted of what looked like a white kimono and black sandals - it wasn't even Tanbata!

Yes, Natsu plus the NYPD celebrated Tanbata. But that didn't matter right now.

"Oh, hey, Ultear. I didn't hear that you were coming into town today, out of all days," Natsu greeted back, not really bothering to step aside to let the woman in.

Ultear, Ultear Milkovich was Gray's... sister. Well, half-sister, really. After his father died in prison, his mother died shortly after thanks to some illness (thank you, cancer, he owes you one) and was taken in by another woman who went by the name of Ul. It was later revealed that Ul had also taken in another boy, Lyon, who was - and still is - the same age as Gray, though the latter classed himself as the older one. He didn't know that Ultear was taken away somehow from Ul in the first few days she, Ultear, was born until a couple of years ago.

Then, after a couple of years of being a trio - him, Lyon and Ul - Ul just had to turn herself into the cops for something she really didn't do and later die in prison like his own father. It was practically his earlier life all over again.

However, the boy who became a teenager who became an adult who became one of the NYPD's best Detectives didn't let it get to him personally and continued on with life. And he liked it that way - he didn't want anyone else close to him giving themselves in for something they didn't do

He watched a small scowl replace her smile. "Natsu, please, step aside so I can see Gray."

The man just hummed, before shaking his head. "Can't, sister."

"Why not?" she asked, trying to force a smile and be polite as possible without punching him in the face.

"Busy," he answered, shrugging his shoulders, "with two cases we're working on."

The woman raised a brow. "Oh? You two are working together? Now, that's quite rare, don't you think?"

He shrugged, again. "Meh, more or less. By the way, where's Meredy? I thought she'd be with you."

Ultear blinked, giving the Detective in front of her an innocent look. "Well, you know, she dislikes - _dislikes _- Gray and went to see Juvia instead." She decided to put emphasis on the 'dislike', as she knew what Meredy and Gray relationship was like.

Natsu nodded in understanding, and finally stepped to the side, letting the woman in. "Come in, Ultear."

She gave him a warm smile, walking into the apartment. "Thank you."

She looked around, her eyes taking in the surroundings.

In the entrance hall, there were a variety of pictures of Natsu and various NYPD members, such as Gray, Mirajane, Alberona and even Erza.

Then, one picture caught her eye.

It was Natsu and a woman who looked around the same age as him and Ultear herself, maybe younger, with blue eyes like Mirajane's but with short, white hair.

"This is...?" she trailed off, pointing at the said picture on the entrance hall table which also had a vase with pink lilium speciosums in.

Natsu glanced at the picture but quickly looked away, before grabbing it and picking it up, replacing it with one with him and the NYPD members in.

"Nobody," he answered quickly and quietly, placing the picture of him and the mysterious white-haired woman in the drawer below, slamming it shut quickly after.

Ultear narrowed her eyes but nodded in understanding anyway.

She walked ahead, making her way through the furthest doorway.

It was the kitchen she entered - the room that Gray was sitting in, trying to decipher the case he and his colleague decided to take into their hands.

The kitchen, in fact, was bigger than she expected.

There was the dining room on one side and the kitchen on the other. The middle was practically a glass door leading to the back yard.

"I've never been this far into your home, Natsu. It's quite impressive."

The said man chuckled. "It's not as impressive as, say, Erza's place. Or even Mira's," he countered, smiling a little.

The two's little conversation seemed to have caught the black-haired man's attention and they watched him turn around in his seat.

"O-Oh, hey, Ultear. What are you doing here?" he asked, standing up with the two coffee mugs in his hands as he then walked over to the other side to where the kitchen sink was, his dark blue eyes also locking with the black obsidian ones of Natsu Dragneel.

The man standing by the doorway just shrugged and walked over to Gray.

"You go talk to Ultear, I'll take it from here," he whispered, grabbing the two mugs from the black-haired man's grip.

"B-But... we're not that... close..." Gray slowly countered, turning his head to glance at the woman who was taking in her surrounding of the kitchen/dining area before turning back to face the back of his best friend's pink head.

A small sigh escaped Natsu's lips. "Gray, she came here to see you. I dunno what for, but whatever it is, you might as well talk with her and bond with her or something. I'm not gettin' into her business," Natsu said, placing the two mugs on the drainer, upside down to let them dry out.

He then pivoted and leant his back against the the counter, shaking his hands as he started searching for a towel to dry his hands on.

"Now, go," the male shooed as he quickly found a towel neear the drainer and dried his hands.

Gray sighed as well and gazed at the tile floor beneath him. He then looked up and locked eyes with the pink-haired Detective, giving him a nod before pivoting and making his way to his sister.

"So, Ultear. Natsu said you wanted to talk to me?"

Ultear glanced at him and smiled, her pink lips curling upwards. "Yeah. C'mon, let's sit down in the lounge."

Natsu watched the duo leave the kitchen/dining area, his obsidian eyes trailing to everywhere else once they left his sight.

"God, shit just got real," he whispered to no one particular - probably himself, massaging his temples with his now dry hands.

Shaking his head and sighing, he slowly made his way to the dining area, gathering up all the papers and placing them in one folder, deciding he'll sort them out later with Gray once Ultear leaves.

* * *

"Yeah, yeah, I'll contact him soon, Ultear. Just leave him to me," Gray said, shooing the woman out of his best friend's house.

"All right, Gray. Just don't go picking up girls like him, okay? And take care of your stripping habit - I think it getting on everyone's nerves more than it should," Ultear called, pointing at his chest as he subsequently looked down. She chuckled to herself once her watched him shriek and slam the door closed, as to hide himself.

Gray sighed and pivoted, leaning against the door as he slowly slid down it.

Natsu came over to him, a small smirk on his face. "What'd she say to you?"

The male looked up at his colleague and scowled. "Shut up. She said that my stupid stripping habit is getting on everyone's nerves."

The pink-haired man laughed and threw his head back. "Well, yeah, man. It kinda is."

Gray's scowl got larger and he got himself up. "You shut your damn trap, bastard. I don't need freaking stupid advice from _you_."

Natsu's smirk only got bigger. "Hmm, really doubt it. You probably do - considering your fashion sense."

"You little piece of - ! We already fought the other day, you wanna go again?!"

"I fucking sure do!" Natsu yelled back, ready to start a ruckus.

"All right, then!" Gray hollered, his voice getting louder. "You're on!"

He then attempted to punch his best friend, but missed, before being kneed in the stomach himself.

Gray, however, got up like nothing happened, and charged at the pink-haired male, the two forgetting the task they were set by their Captain and the time limit they had.

* * *

It was 6 in the evening, and the street lights started coming on out in New York.

However, at the NYPD precinct...

The two came into the precinct yet again bandaged up for the second time.

They watched Erza burst out of her office and stomp towards them, a deathly aura erupting from her.

"You two!" she hollered. "Why are you covered in bandages, _yet again_?"

Natsu and Gray both shrieked which then turned into a full-on scream, before they started to bolt in the opposite direction.

However, Erza caught onto the accessories around their necks - scarf in Natsu's case, whilst steel cross necklace in Gray's - and dragged them back.

"Answer the question," she commanded; she _hissed_.

The two boys' mouths fell open and their throats when dry.

If they didn't answer, they would die. Literally. Like, get shot in the head and then Erza would tell everyone that they were off sick or something.

The duo shivered at the thought, but neither of them answered.

Erza glared at them a few seconds longer, her deathyly aura getting even more deathly.

"W-We were, uh, fighting..." Natsu mumbled the last part, looking away from the woman in front of him glaring down at him.

"Hm? Is that so?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted together. "Well, I'll let you two off this time. After all, getting yourselves covered in even more bandages won't help with the current situation."

The two Detectives sighed in relief, but sucked in a sharp breath once they caught the woman starting to turn back around.

"However," she started, pausing, "if I catch you two walking around in bandages again later this week, you will be suspended from both cases. Capisce?"

Still having air in their lungs, they nodded quickly, knowing that they would die anyway if they fought. And if they did die if they fight, Erza would kill them a second time, hundredfold.

Erza nodded, satisfied with the outcome and turned around again to continue her tracks back to her office.

They let out a shaky breath each. "Oh, shit," Natsu breathed, closing his eyes as he scratched the back of his head. "God, Erza sure got even scarier since the last time she damn scolded us."

Gray shuddered. "Fuck, yeah. And, I'm just saying this, but I'm pretty sure she can still hear us even if we're whispering, Natsu."

"Oh, crap. That's real bad."

"Whatever, let's get to work."

The two agreed and patted themselves down after getting up from the floor - since Erza had dragged them by their neck accessories and sat them down on the tile floor, cross-legged.

"Well, then," Natsu sighed as he sat down in his chair, turning on his computer. "What do we do about the cases?"

Gray shrugged. "Dunno, man. How about visiting Sting, for a start?"

The former sighed again. "Bro! I just freaking turned on my computer and you want me to turn it off again? You're such a pain in the ass, Gray."

The said man chuckled and gave his partner a smug grin as he stood up. "Ain't I?"

* * *

**Gray/Natsu bromance! God, I love these two. Should Ultear's only appearance be this chapter? I'm not sure. I'm really tempted to make her appear in later chapters.  
**

**And yes, we're reaching the 10th Chapter, so prepare for a 4,000 - 5,000 word chapter. Maybe a 10k word chapter for 20th? Meh, I'm planning way too far ahead.**


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